Does silica for plants keep white white??#growlights #pla...
What actually keeps the white on a Thai constellation white?
7
Best Answer
@ITalk2Plants No, your plant simply needs stronger light 💡 (Silica can bind to the soil over time making it hard or downright impossible for them to access their nutrients, so be very careful there. ) Variegated parts of plants don’t have chlorophyll, so the green parts do extra work to keep them alive. If they don’t get enough light, the white parts are the first to be sacrificed because they can’t help make food. 🫶
@DreamMachine thank you 😊 that's kinda what I was thinking. I haven't noticed a difference with the silicone and the only leaf right now with some brown is one that grew taller than the light. Any idea where the silicone thing came from ? I see it in all the groups!
@ITalk2Plants
I know right? I have some thoughts, don’t know if they’re accurate, and unsure if you’re looking for this long and possibly winded nerd-out 😜 🤓but here we go. My speculation is that it is a fad possibly sparked from cannabis growers. (And I’m not blaming anyone, it’s just how these things happen)
And actually, a lot of gardening innovations come from cannabis grows! Like how they popularized the new wave of indoor hydroponic gardening and made specialized hydro-nutrients, because, when it was illegal, they needed some way to get a LOT of yield from relatively small secretive indoor spaces. But the problem with using what’s popular in the cannabis world is that they do not have a long-term growth mindset 😂. They boost these plants FULL of nutrients to make them the beefiest they can possibly be, (they only need them to be super strong 💪 for a few months)…and then they chop 🪓 them all down, harvest, and start over. Not exactly in alignment with OUR priority; life-long houseplant companions! 🤪
I actually fell for it too last year. I simply didn’t think. I was blinded, and excited, thinking that silica would help my plants be Even Better! And what do we plant enthusiasts care for, if not the health and well-being of our plant babies? I saw all these articles parroting the wonders of silica in their echo chambers, watched videos of really smart ™️ 🤓 cannabis growers and soil scientists explaining it all. …But there’s literally no actual research on the long-term effects of silica on houseplants. None. And I didn’t find a single thing on silica explained by someone who understands chemistry…except for one. ☝️
Thank *goodness* I had Shannon @SuperbRaspfern to set me right. 😮💨 She is a shining beacon of rational thought and an encyclopedic knowledge of plants 🙌 (and I hope it’s okay with her that I think of her as my Flora Mentor ♥️) To put it very simply: Our plants need their substrate, whatever it is, to be within a certain pH range so they can access their nutrients. Silica messes with that. But it’s not something that will show you immediate damage, so you won’t know to stop. But in a year or two, all your plants will be declining, pests will be attracted to the weak plants, and you’ll have no explanation, because of course, you know you’ve been fertilizing, but unaware that they haven’t been able to access any of those nutrients that whole time. It’s like if we only ate food that had absolutely no nutritional value. You wouldn’t realize right away. But then eventually you would be plagued with fatigue, ill health, and suddenly you have scurvy. 🏴☠️
Sooo, I don’t know if that’s what you really were asking. Maybe you just wanted to know, “it’s a fad.” Well, you got the long answer. Actually, I could have gone into more detail, but I was trying to not leave a novel of a comment, LOL. Hope you don’t want to run away now 😂♥️
Oh, one quick aside: have you used the silica? I used silica pretty much with every watering for three months 🫣😵💫🥴, and so I had to flush all my plants soil with plain, unfertilized water, every time I watered, for a whole month, to get all the silica out of my substrate. 🫠
I know right? I have some thoughts, don’t know if they’re accurate, and unsure if you’re looking for this long and possibly winded nerd-out 😜 🤓but here we go. My speculation is that it is a fad possibly sparked from cannabis growers. (And I’m not blaming anyone, it’s just how these things happen)
And actually, a lot of gardening innovations come from cannabis grows! Like how they popularized the new wave of indoor hydroponic gardening and made specialized hydro-nutrients, because, when it was illegal, they needed some way to get a LOT of yield from relatively small secretive indoor spaces. But the problem with using what’s popular in the cannabis world is that they do not have a long-term growth mindset 😂. They boost these plants FULL of nutrients to make them the beefiest they can possibly be, (they only need them to be super strong 💪 for a few months)…and then they chop 🪓 them all down, harvest, and start over. Not exactly in alignment with OUR priority; life-long houseplant companions! 🤪
I actually fell for it too last year. I simply didn’t think. I was blinded, and excited, thinking that silica would help my plants be Even Better! And what do we plant enthusiasts care for, if not the health and well-being of our plant babies? I saw all these articles parroting the wonders of silica in their echo chambers, watched videos of really smart ™️ 🤓 cannabis growers and soil scientists explaining it all. …But there’s literally no actual research on the long-term effects of silica on houseplants. None. And I didn’t find a single thing on silica explained by someone who understands chemistry…except for one. ☝️
Thank *goodness* I had Shannon @SuperbRaspfern to set me right. 😮💨 She is a shining beacon of rational thought and an encyclopedic knowledge of plants 🙌 (and I hope it’s okay with her that I think of her as my Flora Mentor ♥️) To put it very simply: Our plants need their substrate, whatever it is, to be within a certain pH range so they can access their nutrients. Silica messes with that. But it’s not something that will show you immediate damage, so you won’t know to stop. But in a year or two, all your plants will be declining, pests will be attracted to the weak plants, and you’ll have no explanation, because of course, you know you’ve been fertilizing, but unaware that they haven’t been able to access any of those nutrients that whole time. It’s like if we only ate food that had absolutely no nutritional value. You wouldn’t realize right away. But then eventually you would be plagued with fatigue, ill health, and suddenly you have scurvy. 🏴☠️
Sooo, I don’t know if that’s what you really were asking. Maybe you just wanted to know, “it’s a fad.” Well, you got the long answer. Actually, I could have gone into more detail, but I was trying to not leave a novel of a comment, LOL. Hope you don’t want to run away now 😂♥️
Oh, one quick aside: have you used the silica? I used silica pretty much with every watering for three months 🫣😵💫🥴, and so I had to flush all my plants soil with plain, unfertilized water, every time I watered, for a whole month, to get all the silica out of my substrate. 🫠
@DreamMachine I'm a total plant nerd so I love the info. I've only used the silica on my Thai and it's in a hydro type system. It's frequently getting new water added.
@ITalk2Plants oh fabulous 😁 I knew I wasn’t taking a *that* huge of a risk since so many of us on Greg are the same way 😂🤣😛
Nadia is definitely a wealth of knowledge and a great person to help out and get advice from. Though on this topic, we differ in our opinions and approach. @ITalk2Plants, I’m a different story, and I agree with Nadia. I think it is a fad for a lot of people. But I do use silica, and I have for a while now, and I know a few people who have been using it for 5 plus years with no issues. While silica can bind and it can boost your plants, it also depends on what forms you are using and if you are flushing your plants. If it is a good silica, it can be used and beneficial to plants in the long term. It can change the ph balance of your water, but that’s more with hard water, which is tap water or hose water. You have to remember though that your roots and your rootball can have different ph levels. I believe that almost anything out there can be damaging if not used properly. I mean, I laugh a little because if you are using lava rocks at all, you are using a form of silica. 😉 So I think if you do your research and do what feels right for you, then that’s the best. I won’t say though that you should or shouldn’t use silica. It’s a personal choice and can benefit in the long term if used properly. There are multiple different forms of silica. 😉 I hope that helps from a different view.
